Studies

The United States Department of Agriculture conducted testing in the summer of 2014, comparing horse fly collections from two commercial traps, the H-Trap and the HorsePal, and one standard surveillance trap, the NZI, in a wildlife refuge that was near a horse boarding farm in Cedar Key, FL. Researchers set up these three different style traps, per each manufacturer’s instructions, using no added attractants. On the first day, the researchers placed the H-Trap, HorsePal, and NZI traps at one of three sites, and then rotated them 24 hours later. This method allowed all three traps to be tested at each site. The researchers conducted three repetitions, and recorded the total number of Tabanids collected over time. The total number of horse flies collected was 3483; of that number, the H-Trap alone collected more than half (57.5%) of the total number of horse flies!

In the summer of 2015, the Cape Cod Greenhead Fly Control Project, a division of the Mosquito Control District, compared the efficacy of the standard Cape Blue Box trap with the H-Trap horse fly control system for the collection of Tabanids. Both the H-Trap horse fly control system and the Blue Box were baited with the same experimental lure. Two of each trap type were used in the testing at four sites in Northern Cape Cod. Each morning, the researchers emptied the traps just before 10 a.m., placed new lures in the traps, and ran the testing for three hours. Traps with lures were rotated between sites in order to prevent uneven population densities from skewing the test results. Testing took place at the four sites over 10 days, and the total number of Tabanids collected over time was recorded. The total number of horse flies collected was 5352; of that number, the H-Trap significantly collected more horse flies (almost 60%).

Additional H-Trap (Horse Fly Trap) Studies in 2015:

Testing of the H-Trap Professional Horse Fly Control System in Cape Cod continued this July for the third straight year by the the Cape Cod Mosquito Control District and its division the Cape Cod Greenhead Fly Control Project, again under the watchful eyes of Gabrielle Sakolsky-Hoopes and Bart Morris, respectively. This year Orleans, MA was the test location for catching horse flies known as green heads.

During the experiments charted below, the H-Trap horse fly control system and the Blue Boxes were baited with no lure and an octanol lure. In total, the testers conducted 13 repetitions and collected 872.5 horse flies with four traps. In all comparisons with lures as seen in the charts below, the H-trap performed significantly better than the Cape Cod Box trap.

2018: Research Study Confirms H-Trap’s Superiority in Standing Up to the Elements and Catching Horse Flies!

“Overall, the H-trap caught the most specimens and the greatest number of species. This trap was considerably easier to service by just removing/lifting off the entire collection container. Conversely, the collection container of the HP [Horse Pal] trap often came apart while removing it, and that could have resulted in losing part of the collection if care was not taken. During these trials, we found that the H-trap was more stable during very windy conditions (>30 mph). Although the experiments reported herein were not affected, there were several times between experiments that the HP and Nzi-SB were blown over by very windy conditions, but H-traps remained intact. This observation was further supported during ongoing studies when tropical storm Hermine (sustained winds of 39-73 mph with wind gusts of 74-110 mph) ravaged Cedar Key causing severe wind damage to homes and businesses but did no damage to seven H-traps that had been left in the field during the storm.most effective and sturdiest horse fly trap out there among other commercial and government surveillance traps on the market.”